MSNBC Host Joe Scarborough Being Courted to Run for Senate

Last time Sen. John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, tried to recruit someone from Florida to run for U.S. Senate, he chose Charlie Crist, and we all know that didn't work out so well. Now, for 2012, he's going after another Republican with possible cross-party appeal: MSNBC host Joe Scarborough. The Morning Joe host previously served in the House representing a Florida district, but is he the right man and could some of his pointed critiques of his own party cost him in a Republican primary? Update: It's a whole long back and forth, but the short answer is that he is not running.

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), told The Hill on Thursday that he has talked to Scarborough a couple times about a Senate bid. And he indicated he's still working on persuading the MSNBC host to run for the upper chamber.

"I'd be delighted to talk to him a third time," Cornyn said.

Republicans tried to recruit Scarborough to challenge Katherine Harris in the 2006 Republican Senate primary, but he passed. He also confirmed that he had rejected some interest to run in 2010.

While Scarborough remains a staunch conservative, especially in comparison to the rest of his MSNBC colleagues, he's no stranger to criticizing his own party. He has lambasted Sarah Palin and called Newt Gingrich "cartoonish."

Scarborough also recently broke with his party on the "Ground Zero Mosque" issue.

"When I was in Congress in 1994, when I got elected in '94, I was considered to be one of the more conservative guys up there," Scarborough said on his show.

"I am feeling further and further distant from the people who are running my party."